Night sky photography


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informer

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Aug 5, 2005
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Hi,

I need some advice on taking pictures of the sky at night over a period of time, like for several hours.

How do I :

1. Take a clear shot of the sky?

2. Do a slow shot of the stars so that they appear like they're moving?

Can I get away with a 18-55 and a Nikon D50 for this and some manual settings?

Thanks.
 

Hi,

I need some advice on taking pictures of the sky at night over a period of time, like for several hours.

How do I :

1. Take a clear shot of the sky?

2. Do a slow shot of the stars so that they appear like they're moving?

Can I get away with a 18-55 and a Nikon D50 for this and some manual settings?

Thanks.

D50 can only handle 30secs

1. Read the basics or use auto nightmode

2. You won't know till you've tried. Even a point and shoot can achieve star trails like movement @ most basic shutter

Finally you can get away with 1 and 2.
 

D50 can only handle 30secs

1. Read the basics or use auto nightmode

2. You won't know till you've tried. Even a point and shoot can achieve star trails like movement @ most basic shutter

Finally you can get away with 1 and 2.

If I remember right, the D50 Bulb mode lasts till 30 min, not 30 sec.
 

Hi,

I need some advice on taking pictures of the sky at night over a period of time, like for several hours.

How do I :

1. Take a clear shot of the sky?

2. Do a slow shot of the stars so that they appear like they're moving?

Can I get away with a 18-55 and a Nikon D50 for this and some manual settings?

Thanks.


hhhmmm...serveral hours? ur aperture have to be like...F90 or something like that...heard only some medium/large format cams can do that...ur ISO have to be like 50 or even lower...both of which i think D50 is not capable of...

i heard somewhere that prolonged exposure will damage the sensor as well...(correct me if i'm wrong).

frankly the longest i ever tried with a DSLR is 5 minutes...
did 15 minutes with my SLR though...at ISO50 with ISO100 film...of PIE at night...lots of light trails...

startrails can be done but you need a VERY dark place...like a deserted grassfield with no light sources such as buildings or they will be super over exposed by the time u can get the trails...only seen such pics of mountains off the beaten track in other countries...

clear shot of the sky can be done with a few minutes...don't need hours...
 

There is always ND filters to help reduce the amount of light entering... ;)
 

Thanks Andy,

I saw a presentation which looked like a bunch of photos taken over a period of time, I assumed that it was timed by the camera or computer so was thinking that was what I had to do to achieve the same effect.

I'd like to do trailing stars and a nice shot of the horizon at night.
 

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